After being asked to evaluate the case, the South Carolina attorney general's office suggested Mr. Hoisington give Sheriff Nash and his team a second opinion.

Six-year-old Gabriel Britt was found dead in a pond near his home March 11 after a nine-day search.

Two autopsies were conducted. One found the boy suffered a blow to the head before drowning. The other suggested the child was killed and then moved to the pond.

Police say teen-ager defaced Jesus statue

MOUNT PLEASANT -Police say a 17-year-old boy smashed the hands off a 9-foot statue of Jesus to express ill will against Christians.

Scott A. Cornish was arrested Thursday and charged with desecration of a cemetery monument after police found a stone hand at his home, Detective Sgt. Sean Hethington.

Police recovered the second hand at the home of a juvenile girl and a thumb from a second girl. Police also recovered a photograph of a fully clothed girl simulating a sex act with the statue of Jesus, Sgt. Hethington said.

The two girls, ages 14 and 15, have not been charged with a crime, he said.

NAACP continues push for rebel flag removal

COLUMBIA -The NAACP says it has no plans to stop its push to remove the Confederate flag off Statehouse grounds.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People says it will continue to tell athletes, entertainers and other prominent persons nationwide not to spend money or perform in South Carolina, said National Field Director Nelson B. Rivers III.

"South Carolina is confused," Mr. Rivers said Saturday. "The rest of the country is united after 9-11, but South Carolina continues to have two flags."

Some state lawmakers have said the Confederate flag ceased to be an issue after it was removed from atop the Statehouse in July 2000.